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America should look to Detroit for sustainable food system innovations

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Detroit's community farms and gardens continue to catch the eye of the rest of the country.

Excerpt from Change.org:

These urban farming ventures provide local food that's produced in an
ecologically sensitive way — a major accomplishment in and of itself.
But what's more, a lot of these groups help further revitalize Detroit
by offering historically disenfranchised groups training and jobs,
incorporating them as a vital part of the workforce. Urban farms,
therefore, don't just provide food—they help grow employment, profits,
morale, and spruce up a city that is, for lack of a better word, ugly.

It's not just small, community groups taking root in Detroit, either.
Michael Score's Hantz Farms is currently planning to build the world's
largest urban farm in the city. Another large-scale proposal comes from
Self-Help Addiction Rehab, Inc. The rehabilitation facility proposed RecoveryPark, a 10-year, $220 million venture that would create organic farms in four impoverished neighborhoods.

Color me seriously impressed with Detroit's farming efforts. But
these innovative concepts don't need to exist solely in the Motor City
bubble. Lots of American cities are experiencing post-industrial decay,
like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Memphis. While they may
lack quite as much vacant space as Detroit, trust me, it's there. It may
sound strange to hear it, but when it comes to agriculture, American
cities would do well to model themselves after Detroit.

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For all the flashiness of the city's many new restaurants, Detroit has a ton of timeless establishments that have been serving more or less the same great food for decades. Here are a few that stand out to us.